Awakening Pink

by Masterweaver

Pink Maned Philosophers

My wonderful concoction eventually was used up, as is wont to do with drinks. I stared out the window at various passing cars, trying to count how many were with that collection of brony guards Harold had pointed out. As the minutes wore into hours, however, I became aware of a certain... snippish pain extending from my rear.

Finally I couldn't stand it any more. "How do you deal with the kinks in your tail?"

Erishy pointed toward the mass of pink hair between her legs. "Sit on it, don’t shove it behind you."

Parts of me that I am ashamed to admit I have made a connection to the image, and I turned my gaze away. "I... am not going to touch that one, I’m not that kind of guy..."

The pegasus gave me a surprisingly saucy grin. "Oh come on, no jokes from Pinkie on that?"

Um... Pinkie?

Oh, sorry. I prefer my humor to be all ages, that way I can keep friends of all ages. Wow, this Psychonauts game in your head is amazing!

Yeah, shame I only watched the LPs. "Huh, apparently she never went to that part of comedy class. Weird."

Ersihy smiled a bit. Her eyes wandered out to the road.

After a moment, she gave me a curious glance. "Can Pinkie take over or have you two not gotten that far yet?"

"Actually, the way my mind is structured, Pinkie could have taken over from the beginning." I knew I'd let some of my darker characters out to play, and I was sure the Pinkenator had taken the wheel once or twice. "She just doesn’t do it often."

That would be really mean of me!

"Says it’s rude."

"Do you think its rude if she takes over?"

I shrugged. "I have no clue. I’m deferring to her judgment on that one." It was a simple fact that Pinkie Pie had more social awareness then I ever did. I gave the pegasus a small grin. "Is this going to descend into one of those deep philosophical conversations?"

"It could..." she admitted.

"Oooookay then. You go first. Deep question. I answer. Go."

Erishy made that half-heard sound of laughter that had been deliberately held back, but there was a ghost of a smirk on her face. "Okay, deep question. You and Pinkie were paired up for a reason, what do you think it was?"

"On my side, confidence. On her side, restraint." Really, that was what was the most opposite about us. "That was easy." I tapped my chin, trying to think up a good counter-question. "Alrighty then: If a man and a woman meet and fall in love, but it turns out the man is infertile, should they get a sperm donor or adopt?"

"Well..." The pegasus bit her lip. "Science has made that obsolete, you can make an egg out of skin cells, but the philosophical part of that... I think they should adopt. The third party can cause so much pain... taking a hurt child in can mend more and do more good than the other option. Unless the woman only wants to have a baby to give birth... then she needs to think over her priorities."

I nodded. "We’re in agreement on that bit. Parenting is not at all related to birthing and is a much bigger responsibility. Less painful though, I think..."

"...My turn?"

"Go ahead."

Erishy took a deep breath. "Okay, my question is, if I am both Erica and Fluttershy, how do I know my own thoughts are still mine? How do I know my own mind isn’t skewed by the process?" Her voice seemed to slip up a bit.

My Fluttertear senses kicked into overdrive.

"A mind constructs itself from its components. If you are two made one, then your thoughts are your own. Is there an alien influence? Are there two in that skull? Or are you really merged? If you are really merged, then your thoughts are your own because you are the only one in there thinking."

"I wonder who I am now... I sometimes feel like I am leaning one way or another but..."

"Hey, I had that before I met Pinkie. Trust me, that’s just you weighing the options, er... processes." That wasn't comforting at all. "What I’m saying is..." good metaphor, good metaphor... "Even if you’re leaning, you have to have a fulcrum, a starting point, right?"

I gave her a hopeful smile, but I couldn't tell if I had reassured her at all.

"Y... yeah... your turn."

"...Should I ask a deep question or a ridiculous one to cheer you up?"

Ah, there was that amused grin. "Ask whatever you want, Pinkie."

"I just did, your turn!" I decided not to protest at the name.

She giggled at my little joke. "Okay, okay. Have you started planning your first party?"

"Hay no. Improv is the name of the game. There’s no guest list and no supplies. Although, tomorrow is Halloween...." That could actually be fun. I sent a few of my ideas off to the felt area of my head for review. "Hmmm. Well, your turn anyway."

"That was my question."

Er... what? "I told you, I didn’t start planning..."

"Are you trying to trick me into asking all the questions?"

I took in her sly smile as I thought about what I had just said. Lissee, so there was my joke question, then her party question then my... my... oh flark.

"....Yes, yes, I am and I’m not trying to cover up a sudden lapse in pattern memory, nope. But if you like, I can ask a question."

"Yup, its your turn."

"All right then." Hmmm, so she'd asked me about parties... "Aside from the horse, have you talked with any animals?"

"No, I haven’t tried. Though in Equestria I wasn’t able to talk to them so much as... I sort of knew how they communicated. which chirps meant hungry or scared."

I nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I’m that way with cats. Grew up learning from Disney... was convinced I was part cat for a while."

"You are so Pinkie," Erishy commented with a grin.

"Pinkie’s social. I’m not."

It was meant as a lighthearted jab, but I saw the pegasus deflate.

"...Maybe that will be a benefit of the merge, you'll be happier around others."

I considered her words. I could just play eager, but... "....do I really want to stop being an aspie though? It feels like I’m betraying the whole autistic community."

She snapped her eyes to me with surprise. "Aspergers? You have Aspergers too?"

"Er... yeah? It wasn’t, you know, obvious?" The whole I'm not social I retreated into creativity thing? Then again, part of being me was my lack of communication on such topics.

"I was diagnosed at the age of eight. Well, Erica was. Apparently I ‘grew out of it’ somewhere around the time that I lived on my own for 4 years."

It sounded like a false diagnoses to me. All too common. "You don’t grow out. You adapt... learn to tolerate. People... they have this...." I tried to think of a good word. "Radiation or something, I don’t know, and when they focus on you it’s like they’re shooting beams of radiation...."

"I understand. I really do. But imagine how much of an inspiration you could be to others, you’re the party pony! You could show them that there are good gatherings."

Did she just--?!

"Do you know I read a book that actually suggested brainwashing as a cure for autism?" I began calmly. "I’m not even kidding. Some sort of copper wire treatment, I can’t remember the details. To be fair to the author, she herself wasn’t autistic and just wanted her daughters to have a normal life, but... I don’t think she realized what she was advocating."

Belatedly, I realized I was ranting. Not a wild sort of rant, but one fueled by quiet anger at, I shamefully realized, was an honest though not understanding attempt to help.

"...I’m sorry, I just have a kneejerk reaction to people saying 'Here is how to be normal.'"

She gave me a sorrowful look. "There is a difference between hope and... and that. You can have hope in growing."

Growing? I always grew. I just didn't grow the same way others did. And their attempts to help me become one of them were just... suffocating.

"...Eyes on the road, please. Your turn." I decided to drop the subject.

"Okay..." She turned her gaze back to driving. "I... have decided, or at least... in my opinion, we are all driven by Hope and Fear. with Love as the exception. What do you think?"

What...?

"....snrk..."

A single drive?

"....pffffffft...."

For all of humanity?!

".....heh, heh heh, hahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I noticed Erishy glowering at me and tried to clamp down on my laughter. "I’m sorry, I, I’m sorry, but... okay, hold on, let me gather myself here.

After a few moments, and a couple of deep breaths, I clapped my hooves together.

"Okay. Here it is. Nothing drives humanity. Actually scratch that: Humans drive humanity."

The pegasus frowned. "Well... I like being able to peg things down."

How to explain this... "Alright, how about we start at the very beginning. Human children come into the world and what do they know? Eat, sleep, breathe..." I grinned a bit. "Cry when you’re upset, make dirty diapers... and there’s one other thing. Guess. Go on, guess."

Erishy mused on my words. "I would say they are afraid.. because they don't understand their surroundings."

"Nnnnnno." Afraid of the unknown was a good guess.... "You’re on the right track though. Try again!"

"They are hungry?" she tried, confused.

I sighed. "Aaaaand you lost it. They have one other instinct, Erishy, one other ability. What is it?"

"They know love... the love of their family..."

"As much as I want to say yes to that, because that would be awesome, I’m going to have to call three strikes. They know how to learn."

The pegasus gave me an uncomprehending look. "But why do we learn? We learn because we hope for the future, or we are afraid of what we don’t know."

"See, you’ve got it backwards." I twisted my hoof around to demonstrate my point. "We need to learn hope and love and fear, just as much as we need to learn to walk and talk. A human is constructed by its own mind; it is the product of its environment insomuch as it decides to be. Humans make themselves, and therefore every individual human has their own set of drives."

It sounded so wild and random now that I said it. And... "In fact..."

Suddenly I was hit with an epiphany.

"I think that’s why humans tick off Discord so much."

Erishy smiled. "I think we are both right. Humans are a big contradiction."

"Paragons of chaos, and yet we have embraced harmony! We should all be at each other’s throats, but love is the guiding concept of many civilizations! Ha! Discord can’t accept that!" I giggled, reveling in my revelation and the lord of Chaos's incomprehension. "Wimp."

We drove on in mutual amusment for a while. Then suddenly the pegasus remembered something. "Oh, your turn."

"Okay, how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood measured in metric tons?"

Comments

[viowolf]

wow great epiphany and fantastic chapter

[RF and AG]

Answer to the last question: Roughly 3.90198 metric tons. This is of course having the variable of a natural cycle of a woodchuck. If there were any other sudden variables then the number would fluxate depending on the variable.

[Red Bomber]

Hmm if this was persona I think you would have the Hermit card... I think I would too.

By the way, did you have the epiphany while you two were chatting?

[TundraStanza]

Metric tons? Son of a gun...
1611420
By that logic, Markus has the Fool card. He's the first protagonist after all.

[Red Bomber]

1611754

Too bad he doesn't have the wild card though. If he did then that single second thought of running and hiding wouldn't be too devastating on him. Wait I gotta know the count about the mane 6 and their medals, right now I only know that 3 of them have it now, Erica, Reid, and Markus.

[SunsetyDays]

1611420 What card would I have then? Bear in mind, I don't know about Persona.

[Masterweaver]

1612951
I've tried Fanta! It's... too sweet...

[Red Bomber]

1613831
I don't know much about either, so I had to look it up most of the arcanas for Megami Tensei Wiki. Basing on my own memory from what I just read, I think you personally have the Fortune Arcana since you seem to take whatever craziness that's happening to you with ease and you don't mind them that much. But I also think you would have the Justice Arcana that's in pretty good development right now since your merging with the broken half of Twilight (who strangely had a brooklyn accent). Your way of thinking is more or less rational and very other smart stuff... Well anyway I'm going to pull up all the Arcana definitions relating to the personalites that was shown in the game and which arcana whose stories I'm reading matches the closest.

(Note: these are not in order and keep in mind these are definitions taken straight from the wiki itself and whoever I mention has the connection to it, doesn't have to match with all the traits explained in the definition)
0. Fool = represents innocence, divine inspiration, madness, freedom, spontaneity, inexperience, chaos, and creativity.

1. Magician= is commonly associated with action, initiative, self-confidence, manipulation and power (more specifically, the power to harness one's talents.)
1611754 Now that I think about I think Markus might fit this one since he's taking alot of the action and he is the one that started everything.

2. Priestess= is a symbol of hidden knowledge or other untapped power, wisdom, female mystery and magic when it appears in tarot readings.

3. Empress= In tarot readings, the Empress represents prosperity, creativity, sexuality, abundance, fertility and comfort (most often in helping maintain peace around them like an ideal mother would.)

4. Emperor= symbolizes the desire to control one's surroundings, and its appearance could suggest that one is trying too hard to achieve this, possibly causing trouble for others; some elements in life are just not controllable.

5. Hierophant= is a symbol of education, authority, conservatism, obedience to rules and relationship with the divine.
I guess this arcana belongs to Lauren since she is being friends with a divine being now.

6. Lovers=In tarot readings, the Lovers Arcana initially represented two paths life could lead to, and thus a symbol of standing at a crossroad and needing to make a decision. Today, however, it is portrayed more of a symbol of love and romantic relationships, although it can also be a symbol of finding agreement with an ordinary friend or even two conflicting elements within. A commonality among individuals of the Lovers Arcana is their popularity and their emphasis on social interaction.

7. Chariot=is a symbol of victory, conquest, self-assertion, control, war and command.
This obviously belongs to Rainbow Dash, I remember someone doing this kind of thing before on ponibooru and say that this arcana normally represents characters who like to train alot.

8. Justice= symbolizes a strict allegory of justice, objectivity, rationality and analysis.
Ah analysis, that's what I was forgetting. This is pretty much what you're doing more of in the recent chapters ever since the merge.

9. Hermit= is associated with wisdom, introspection, solitude, retreat and philosophical searches.
Like I said this represents Reid more with his solitude personality that he tells everyone in this story.

10. Forturne= symbolizes Fate and varying luck, fortunes and opportunities. What goes up will go down, what goes down will go up. Bearers of the Fortune Arcana are often individuals who roll with life's punches and/or seize their own destiny, regardless of their surroundings.
You pretty much go back in forth in the definition of this, but either way this is the impression I got off you when you started the story.

11. Strength= symbolizes an imagery beyond the Beast And Beauty, and is associated with the morality about the stronger power of self-control, gentleness, courage and virtue over brute force.
This totally belongs to Fluttershy since she's the kind, caring character that we all know and love. Erica now embodies this arcana as well since her merge with Fluttershy, especially when it was Erica's decision to take the shot that for someone she believes doesn't deserve to be saved (or treated kindly in her words I think), if that's not kindness then I don't know what is. It's just that what she said about it in this experience will probably forever etched into my head

12. Hanged Man= is associated with self-sacrifice for the sake of enlightenment, the bindings that makes one free, paradoxes and hanging between heaven and earth. Hanged Man characters may be self-sacrificial, but are more often notable for being caught between two different extremes or parties.

13. Death= symbolizes the metamorphosis and deep change, regeneration and cycles.
This is something I think Erica has well even before meeting up with Reid she has some problems dealing with her merge with Fluttershy even though she accepted it. This is totally a huge change for Erica in her life in more ways than one and I can only hope she'll be fine once everything goes back to normal or separated with Fluttershy when this is all over.

14. Temperance= is a symbol of synthesis, prudence, harmony, and the merging of opposites.
EVERYONE has this now that the merging of the minds of the ponies and the humans have been introduce into the story. I believe there's more than one way to merge, but that's up to everyone and you to decide what is (even though you already decided that).

15. Devil= represents the urge to do selfish, impulsive, violent things and be slave to ones' own impulse and feelings.

16. Tower= is commonly associated to overly arrogant, prejudiced and authoritarian organization, which walk to their own ironic demise. Furthermore, it is also more generically used as an omen of doom and disaster.

17. Star= is also commonly associated hope, self-confidence, faith, altruism, luck, generosity, peace and joy.
After reading this, there is no doubt in my mind that Pinkie embodies most of those traits and it also serves as the Temperance that Reid and Pinkie are going through at the moment.

18. Moon=is associated with creativity, inspiration, dreams, madness, illusions, fear, fantasy, the subconscious and trickery. In tarot readings, it can also represent being attuned subconsciously to the world around, gaining the ability to sense things without being told about them or without anyone else knowing (which means that some identify this Arcana with psychic energy).
I'm guessing Tara and Luna has this now; and I guess this makes even more sense as to why Tara became Luna in the first place, what with her being a voice actor and everything.

19. Sun= symbolizes happiness, joy, energy, optimism, and accomplishment.
Pinkie also has this arcana, but it's just that the one who was associated wtih it in Persona 4 made me think otherwise.

20. Judgement= symbolizes the protagonists' actions and decisions late-in the game, symbolizing a person's awareness of himself, and others.
This is probably what will happen when all 6 of you managed to work on the story together, I'm just wondering how that will work though.

21. Aeon= (Not part of the tarrot collection at all, but from my understanding of this pages wiki and it only belongs to a robot girl. I believe this fits with a person's desire to know about the world when they have 0 to little knowledge of it before hand.)

[SunsetyDays]

1614187 No.

WHITE CHOCOLATE COCOA COLA! (And yes, I actually have tasted this

[Hope]

1615351 long comment is long.

[Thunder Bash]

I can answer that last question! PURPLE CAUSE I LIKE ICE CREAM!

[timothy2400]

"Okay, how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood measured in metric tons?"

so deep love the story awesome laughs

[dafiltafish]

That was an astoundingly strange chapter.

[Alondro]

Chapter 20 note: And that little epiphany is why I have always known that Discord's little mind-warp thing would fail with most of the human race.

We are our own opposites. Each of us has so many components, only the most single-minded and simple-minded individuals would have only one side to turn.

And most of them are politicians, bank managers, and marketing departments, and making them into the opposite of themselves would only serve harmony, so Discord just can't win!

[R4skall]

1615351I think mine would be fool magician and hermit ^.=.^

[R4skall]

1627368peanut butter cheese jelly and Tuna sandwich... And yes I have had one before ^.=.^

[Pinklestia]

I think she is happier now, somewhat.

[Waterpicker]

2872886 Can't turn something into a chaotic ball of shit when it is one.

[ferret]

Oh that's freaking brilliant. Humans learn to be compassonate not out of an innate compulsion to be compassionate but of an innate compulsion to learn. That's freaking brilliant!

[Warrior Kitten]

Oh my god he has Autism Aspergers? So do I!

[MTDragonslayer7]

I am curious how much of the fandom has Aspergers.

[LightningStrike34]

3953481 I have Autism too but not aspergers.

[Writers Acre]

5718281 I had the signs for Aspergers my whole life but only just recently got diagnosed. It explains so much.